The Illustrated Book of Sayings: Curious Expressions from Around the World

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

The book is not exactly what I expected, but I enjoyed reading it all the same. Rather than a look at the history of expressions from around the world, though it does some of that, this is more of a series of ponders around the parables with interesting facts thrown into the mix.

The drawings are quirky, much like the text, in an attempt to translate each saying literally with an emphasis on the odd nature of the sayings. This is not a book to be taken seriously. It doesn’t come with a huge index of scholarly sources, and some of the comments are solely opinion.

It does introduce the reader to a wide variety of sayings and often emphasizes the underlying commonalities between people and show more language groups where similar sayings exist. On occasion, she even notes parables with seemingly universal characteristics as some element of the phrase repeats across many cultures.

The notes about Nigeria’s multiple languages, the intelligence of octopuses, and how cats are viewed in Japan are just some of the mentions that caught my eye. The tongue-in-cheek style of narrative that is nevertheless informative was perfectly suited for this task and made the introduction of odd facts mixed with pondering questions like the frequency of pigs in sayings and side notes about different humor styles more effective than I would have expected.

There’s breaking of the fourth wall and not a lot of consistency in content from one saying to the next, but if you can accept each image description as a separate essay or prose poem, this book will tickle your funny bone, challenge your thoughts, and offer interesting trivia to entertain you.

Read it to discover stray facts about languages, animals, and what have you. Or read it solely to chuckle, but there is much to enjoy between these pages.

P.S. I received this title from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review. show less

I love books about language, and this one was quick and fun. All sorts of great expressions are within, my favorites being the Swedish "sliding in on a shrimp sandwich," the Mandarin "horse horse, tiger tiger," the Tibetan "to give a green answer to a blue question," the Russian "I'll show him where the crayfish spends the winter," the Polish "not my circus, not my monkeys," and the Armenian "stop ironing my head."
That last one is my favorite of the favorites.
Stop ironing my head.
It's a fun book to read aloud and force people to guess what the expressions mean. And if you want to know what my favorites mean, you'll just have to check out the book.

The Illustrated Book of Sayings contains curious and humorous collection of sayings from around the world, complete with original illustrations and explanatory paragraph.

The sayings translate pretty hilariously! Although there are quite a few included in the book, there are definitely more out there in the world waiting to be illustrated in a second and even third volume!

Imagine the illustrations for "sliding in on a shrimp sandwich," "wearing a cat on your head" and "blowing little ducks."

Very cute and entertaining.


**eARC Netgalley**

I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, but was pleasantly surprised. It was an educational book that explored the phrases of different cultures. My husband and I had a great time guessing what each phrase meant... Some were easy, while others were a tad more difficult. The illustrations were gorgeous and really added to the overall reading experience. It was unique and fun and I would definitely recommend it to all readers looking to branch out and explore a different language.

*Shoutout to Random House (Ten Speed Press) for the review copy!*

A fun coffee table book with quirky illustrations and some interesting sayings from around the world. Don't expect a history lesson for each saying; this book is more for a trivia-like reading session.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

The Illustrated Book of Sayings by Ella Frances Sanders is a collection of over 50 idioms from languages around the world. What I find most fascinating are the commonalities found. Translated literally, many of the expressions make no sense. However, almost all have counterparts in English and in other languages, illustrating the universality of emotions and thought. In other words, there is more that unites us than divides us. A wonderful book for adults and children.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2016/11/the-illustrated-book-of-sayings.html.

Reviewed for the Blogging for Books program